In this section we discuss getting hit and taking damage.
An important concept in Mekton is the scaled damage system. Weapons used by mecha are far more powerful than those used by mere humans. Because of this Mekton devised a damage system that is somewhat different depending on the scale at which you are playing
Humans take damage in increments called hits. Powersuits take damage in increments called kills. Mecha take damage in increments called Kills. Small spacecraft and the like take damage in KILLS, and large spacecraft take damage in KILLS. Hopefully we won't be dealing a lot with space ship combat, so we won't really have to worry about anything except hits, kills, and Kills.
The scale is that one Mecha Kill is equal to 5 powersuit kills, so only powersuit weapons which do 5 kills or more can even hope to hurt a mech. One powersuit kill is equal to 2 human hits, so the damage of human scale weapons is divided by 2 when firing at powersuits. Likewise, a powersuit weapon that does 4k damage will do 8 hits on a human if it hits them. Its important to note that Powersuits really have few weapons capable of really trashing a mech - even light mech will probably have armor that is all but impenetrable to powersuits.
Damage is pretty simple really - when you are successfully hit, you take a certain amount of in hits or kills. From this base damage, immediately subtract the armor value of the location hit. If damage remains, then the armor has been penetrated and the remaining damage is removed from the "Damage" value of the servo or location hit. If you are in a powersuit and all of the "Damage" of a given servo is checked off, and there is still damage remaining, the remainder goes against the hit points of the location on your body. Don't forget that 1k=2 hits, so if 3k get through your arm servo you are going to be taking 6 hits against that arm (ouch!).
There is also the matter of Staged Penetration. In Mekton, whenever your armor is hit for an amount of damage equal to the Penetration Value of the armor, the armor of that location is damaged. For most powersuits the Penetration Value of their armor is 2, so 1k attacks do not damage armor, but 2k and above attacks do. The Chichimeca have better armor, so the Penetration Value of their armor is 3 - only 3k weapons or better will damage their armor. The Death Messengers have worse armor than anyone else, so the Penetration Value for their armor is 1. Even 1k weapons can start knocking the armor of their powersuits.
Whenever a human suffers a wound in which he or she loses half or more of the HP to a given location to a single attack, he or she must make a stun/shock roll. Roll equal to or less than your Body Type. If you succeed you do not fall unconscious. If you fail you are unconscious for a number of rounds equal to the amount you failed by, and can then begin making additional stun/shock rolls to see if you wake up.
Whenever a powersuit or mecha takes internal damage (that is, the damage
is not stopped by the powersuit's or mech's armor) may cause additional
internal damage to the powersuit or mecha. Any time your powersuit
or mecha takes internal damage, you must roll equal to or under the Damage
value of your torso (4 in the case of most undamaged powersuits, 5 for
the Chichimeca, and 3 for the Death Messengers or Slave units). If
you succeed, there is no further effect. If you fail, you have to
roll on the internal damage table below:
| Roll | Result |
| 1-2 | No effect |
| 3 | Operator/pilot stunned, lose one action |
| 4 | Targeting computer goes down - 14 to all Attack/Defense rolls for the rest of the turn |
| 5 | Systems reboot - powersuit/mech inoperative for the remainder of the turn (no attack or defense rolls) |
| 6 | Hydraulics leak. Take 1 kill/Kill hydraulics damage (most powersuits have 4 points of Hydraulics. Chichimeca have 5, Death Messengers and Slave units have 3. |
| 7 | Take 1d6 hits of damage to the pilot, to a random location |
| 8 | Heart of Jade shaken up. Roll immediately for Powerplant explosion (1-3 it explodes!). Anyone with Shielded Powerplant treat as no effect. |
| 9 | Serious Hydraulics leak. Take 2 pts of hydraulics damage |
| 10 | Heart of Jade takes a hit of damage. If this reduces it to 0 hits, roll immediately for Powerplant explosion (1-3 it explodes) and for emergency ejection. |
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